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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to not understand why adults find harry potter so good?

162 replies

Mindexplode · 17/08/2015 11:28

I never really got into harry potter but people told me I was missing out so I have watched all 7 films in the name of research

I still can't understand why it made it so big when there are better fantasy films and books aimed at the children and teenager market?

I certainly don't understand the attraction to adults, I found them very dull and formulaic

if you are a fan - what is it I'm not getting? if you compare them to narnia, or his dark materials, or hitchhikers guide or Asimov then there is no comparison. I much prefer Pratchett or Iain m banks or gainman

am I the wrong age - I was about 18 when the first book came out

OP posts:
foxmitten · 17/08/2015 11:49

YABU. Just remember your opinion is not law - to you it may well be boring and formulaic, and that's fine. But other people obviously don't feel that way about it, it doesn't make either of you wrong.

I love it, but I'm not going to try to convince you it's amazing. The world would be a very boring place if we all liked and disliked the same things.

I hate Game of Thrones, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire and plenty of other things I have seen other people rave about. I don't feel the need to understand why other people like them.

OytheBumbler · 17/08/2015 11:49

That video is hilarious FuzzyWizard. It's what I often think when people are going on about the show. Grin

Mindexplode · 17/08/2015 12:06

catswiththumbs my list is what I read as a child, my dads a big fantasy/ sci fi reader and I read everything in the house as I love books

some of the other authors (like gainman) are ones I have discovered as an adult

OP posts:
Neverknowingly · 17/08/2015 12:15

The films are shallow. I quite liked the books and they prompted some good conversations about good v bad, redemption and behaviour etc.

wickedlazy · 17/08/2015 12:16

Think I'm a bit different in that I was about 13 when I started reading them, so they are a part of my childhood. The excitement of waiting for the next book to be released!

Hygellig · 17/08/2015 12:16

I liked the HP books, particularly the mid-series ones, but I am not too fussed about the films. I like the plotting and imaginative details. I have seen some of them but forget which one I got to. I'm not really into fantasy or sci-fi (although I did quite like the Discworld books when I was a teenager) and was 18 when the first HP book was published, so I didn't grow up with them. DS's classmates' parents will probably tell me that they did and make me feel very old!

Maybe one of the reasons they are popular is that reading about HP's antics provides some escapism from daily life. I once went to a talk by Terry Pratchett, who, when asked about the success of the Harry Potter books, said that it was a bit like baking a cake: they may be derivative but JK Rowling had managed to get all the ingredients just right.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 17/08/2015 12:18

Comfort reading for me - I was another who read them growing up. And she created a fantastic alternative world in them, that could be hidden in out daily lives - unlike LOTR, which is very clearly separate.

Also the first film was probably the first film I'd seen where I'd read the book first (I'd mainly seem disney and musicals up to then) and could see it brought to life. I still remember gasping the first time I saw the Great Hall.

I was too young (8 or 9) when I read His Dark Materials for the first time, and it really scared me. I've re-read them since, but never as happily as the Harry Potters.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 17/08/2015 12:20

I read lots of things. I will still go back and read Anne of Green Gables, the whole series. I own ALL the Terry Pratchett books, including the Johnny series - I have a real soft spot for the Johnny books, they're similar to the children in Good Omens (which is BRILLIANT).

Harry Potter is clearly aimed at children but there is enough in it to keep me entertained as well. I haven't left my childhood likes behind, they're still there, I just have other likes as well.

Recently I bought all the Eoin Colfer Artemis Fowl books as well - but I wouldn't bother with those if I were you, OP, they're also children's books.

I also like most of the animated films that come out these days - all the Pixars, many of the Disney and other studios (but NOT fucking Sponge Bob, that is shit).

I also read adult books too - and have done since I was a child - have read lots of different genres, don't really have a favourite genre as such, although there are some books I cba with now. Mostly nasty grisly ones, or psychological screw up ones (those that mess with my head, in other words).

One thing that I did notice about the HP books though, was that people I knew who tried to read them as young adults, like you, OP, just didn't cope well - they were trying to be adults, and the books were still too childish, so they didn't sit well in their new(ish) adult status, iyswim. Whereas older adults I knew, like me, really liked them. :)

But that's a gross generalisation and only works among the people I know - and as others have said, you don't have to like everything that everyone else does, it's a matter of personal taste.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 17/08/2015 12:22

Also, I know it's pedantic and no doubt rude of me, but if you're talking about Neil Gaiman, it's probably politer to spell his surname right.

Mindexplode · 17/08/2015 12:24

thumbwitch I also own and read Anne of green gables, terry Pratchett is my comfort read and I'm listening to the hobbit in the car Grin

so we think it's just my age (not a child myself, didn't have children if my own) that meant I missed the hype at the time and so now don't get it?

OP posts:
PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 17/08/2015 12:24

Rhine I've read somewhere that High Grant should have been Lockhart, but there was a filming clash.

whois · 17/08/2015 12:24

I like the books a lot. I was actually a child when the first one came out (pretty much the same age as Harry!) and so I grew up as Harry grew up and I still occasionally re-read one of the HP books.

Gripping storyline, engaging characters and depth to the writing which adults can appreciate.

Mindexplode · 17/08/2015 12:25

thumbwitch I was wondering but I couldn't go upstairs to take a look Grin

good omens is in my top 5 books of all time, I read it first as a teenager and its still a favourite

OP posts:
maybebabybee · 17/08/2015 12:25

Books are waaaaaaaaaaay better than films. I think the films are shit personally, mainly because IMO they got a lot of the casting wrong. But I am a massive die-hard HP fan...at age 26.

On a serious note though, I suffer from depression and honestly when I feel really sad I read the books. They cheer me up.

hellsbellsmelons · 17/08/2015 12:26

You should have read the books first. Then the films just fall into place.
The books are fantastic.
Read the books then you might understand.
You might not though. HP just might not be your thing at all.

I loved the Hunger Games books so I don't mind the films.
I'm sure if I'd have just watched the films I might not be so engrossed or interested.

Sparklingbrook · 17/08/2015 12:26

Spongebob is brilliant. I might never have seen any HP but have seen the SB movies and most of the episodes. Grin

I have a big aversion to Disney and all the animated stuff an certainly wouldn't pay to see them.

redredblue · 17/08/2015 12:29

Read the books first and then get back to us?
I don't really like the films that much, but the books are a million times better

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 17/08/2015 12:31

That's ok, Mind - easily done! :) Good Omens is also in my top 5.

IME, it would probably be your age, yes, but who knows?! I read a bunch of Asimov, ee doc smith, Douglas Adams too and loved them all, but still love HP too. :)

The ones I can't get behind are things like Game of Thrones, the Hunger Games etc. - too much death and human suffering. Enough of that goes on in RL, I read books for escapism! Can't bear Karin Slaughter either (different but still awful) although I don't mind Kathy Reichs (pathology though, I like that, it's interesting).

Sparkling - I don't feel like I can talk to you any more.

Wink
G1veMeStrength · 17/08/2015 12:32

I'm reading them to my DC and think they are excellent kids books. I do have some bugbears because I am sick of some much used phrases ('said Harry dully' as 'he climbed into his four poster').

HOWEVER imo they introduce just the right balance of new vocabulary in a natural context that means you learn something without it all being a long overly educational slog.

The DC get to feel clever as they notice the clues and predict what will happen, and there is so much suspense all the way through.

I am the wrong age to have read them previously and discovering them through the DC is lovely I have to say. And of course the films are nowhere near as good as the books.

Solina · 17/08/2015 12:32

YABU for the fact that you rate HP bad based on the films, YWNBU if you rated it not your thing after reading the books. I dont really like the films but I absolutely love the books and have read them multiple times and in 2 different language. They are very different to the films because so much was left out in the latet films.

Also I have been to the studio and even though I dont really care for the films at all it was amaizing experience and I will be visitin again with my dp when we get a chance as there was just too much to see in 1 day.

porkerchops · 17/08/2015 12:34

I read one of the HP books a few years ago because a couple of friends kept banging on about how good they were. I guess they are good children's books but in no way better than Malorie Blackman's children's books.

I don't really get when or why it became acceptable for fully grown adults to sit on the train reading children's books. You look like a dick.

UrethraFranklin1 · 17/08/2015 12:35

You don't understand how other people like things that you don't? Do you often struggle with such basic concepts?

PosterEh · 17/08/2015 12:37

I'm with you OP and I have read (some of the) books. I don't think they are well written at all. I can understand why people like them but they read like self-published fan fiction to me.

FuzzyWizard · 17/08/2015 12:39

I really love the Song of Ice and Fire series (Game of Thrones) but am starting to feel that GRRM isn't really in control of the series. The Harry Potter series always feels like it's within

hellsbellsmelons · 17/08/2015 12:39

I couldn't give a flying fuck what I look like reading what I like.
If I'm enjoying it then judge away.
It makes no difference to me or my day or my enjoyment of a book.

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